Demonstration of multi-agent potential fields in real-time strategy games

Abstract

Bots for Real Time Strategy (RTS) games provide a rich challenge to implement. A bot controls a number of units that may have to navigate in a partially unknown environment, while at the same time search for enemies and coordinate attacks to fight them down. Potential fields is a technique originating from the area of robotics where it is used in controlling the navigation of robots in dynamic environments. Although attempts have been made to transfer the technology to the gaming sector, assumed problems with efficiency and high costs for implementation have made the industry reluctant to adopt it. Our demo shows the use of Multi-agent Potential Fields (MAPF) in an open source RTS game. We will demonstrate both the potential fields as such, and the coordination of the agents.